Recently I’ve become more and more fascinated with GIFs, those little looping one-second animations that keep proliferating across the web. Though the most common form of GIF might still be a TV clip with a snarky headline added, or cat stickers, GIFs are capable of much, much more. The world is full of talented animators and illustrators creating amazing GIF art. In this post I’m including links to some beautiful GIFs across the web,

Last night at the AIGA’s Mentor Mashup Wrap Up party, I stood up in front of a roomful of graphic designers and spoke about some book covers I’d designed, including illustrations, which were projected on the wall behind me. Public speaking plus putting my work out there in front of a crowd of talented designers – even a year ago I’m not sure I could have imagined this moment. I’m just going to

Green Comma has a brand new website. I’m feeling good about this newest iteration: beautiful full-width galleries, a giant full-width image on the homepage, a fun quote from Albert Einstein, nice smooth animation that happens when you click on a menu or scroll down a page, new links from sidebars and footers that make it easy to find content, easy links to social media, new text that makes it more explicit

What Makes a Great Logo Design? Choosing a logo design is one of the most important decisions any new business faces. A good logo should be unique, simple, suited to the business, versatile, and stand the test of time. To help with your decision-making process, following are some questions to ask yourself when selecting a logo. Is the Logo Unique? Everything from our bank on down to our soap has a logo. The sheer number of logos

If you own your own business and have been working from home, and you’ve been on the fence about joining a co-working space, this post is for you. The short answer: Just do it. The cost is worth it, the benefits are worth it, and bottom line (which sounds preach-y but is true), you’re worth it. This month I finally joined Whetstone Workgroup, a co-working space in Sharpsburg. Green Comma now has

I thought it might be interesting to write a process post outlining the steps that go into designing an app icon. This was a logo I created for Booth Scout, an excellent new app for anyone who loves art festivals and craft shows (please check it out!). I wanted to illuminate the design process, back and forth, and revisions that went into creating the final design. The first step in any good design

Last month I wrote a blog post asking whether I should include my pen and ink self-portrait on my Green Comma business card. I got a lot of positive comments on the blog and Facebook, mostly pro self-prortrait. But in private the tide began to turn against including it on the business card. First I got an urgent-sounding voicemail from my father–“Hil, I don’t think you should put the portrait on your business

Happy New Year! It’s finally snowing here in Pittsburgh, which is actually giving me a great sense of relief after all the bizarre, distracting unseasonableness. Usually I’m no fan of winter, so this happiness at the cold is a new experience. But someone once said to me that they look forward to winter because it’s a time to hunker down and get some creative work done. I’m sitting at my local cafe and there’s

I was thrilled to discover the website, watchyulelog.com. It’s a curated collection of short animations, all depicting some interpretation of a yule log. None of them are more than a few seconds long, and you can set it to play through all of them, or choose the one you’d like to watch. What a visual feast, and so fun. I’ve discovered a lot of new animators to follow. Though that

A while back Green Comma designed the app icon for a great new Pittsburgh-based startup called Booth Scout. We’re excited that this month Booth Scout officially launched and is now available to download to your iOS device for beta testing. Booth Scout is a mobile app which connects shoppers and artists at juried craft shows. Picture this: you’re interested in going to a craft show, but it’s across town at a convention center

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Testimonials

Amy Camp

Owner, Cycle Forward

"I loved working with Hilary on two different occasions. She asks a lot of great questions to get to the root of what her clients are looking for. The projects we did together were so completely different from one another, but I was equally thrilled with the end product both times!"

Jennifer McKinney

Jennifer McKinney Photography

"Thank you Green Comma! Hilary was so easy to work with and I love how she could put so many of my ideas into one single, concise design."

Terese Jungle

"Working with Hilary on our postcard concept was a pleasure and great success. She was able to perfectly illustrate our marketing strategy to communicate to our demographic. And the process was professional, efficient, and fun."

Valerie Monaco

Founder, Tally Trove, LLC

"Hilary offers her clients both creativity and a collaborative spirit. I've received many compliments on the icon that Hilary created for the Booth Scout mobile app. It makes a wonderful first impression!"

Neela Vaswani

"Hilary Schenker is a brilliant artist and consummate professional. Her design, work ethic, understanding of social media, and dedication to her clients is unmatched. Working with Hilary was a rewarding experience. She really listened to what I wanted and what I needed to achieve, then brought my ideas to life--all while sticking to my budget."